Software Testing Phases
IEEE standards are most accepted in the software testing industry. However, it is not mandatory that all software testing processes have to follow the standard. Software testing has many different phases but we cover the test planning, test specification and test reporting phase in this article.
Test plan is the most important phase in the software testing process. It sets the process rolling and describes the scope of the testing assignment, the approach methodology, the resource requirement for testing and the project plan or time schedule. The test plan outlines the test items, system features testing or checking out the functionality of the system, the testing tasks, responsibility matrix and the risks associated with the process. The testing task is achieved by testing different types of test data. The steps that are followed in system testing are program testing, string testing, system testing, system documentation and user acceptance testing. I will discuss about each of these in my next article “Software System Testing”.
Test specification document helps in refining the test approach that has been planned for executing the test plan. It identifies the test cases, procedures and the pass/fail criteria for the assignment. The test case specification document outlines the actual values required as input parameters in the testing process and the expected outputs of the testing results. It also identifies the various constraints related to the test case. It is important to note that test cases are re-usable components and one test case can be used in various test designs. The test procedure outlines all the processes that are required to test the system and implement the test cases.
During the testing phase all the activities that occur are documented. There are various reasons why clear documentation is required during testing. It helps the development team to understand the bugs and fix them quickly. Incase there is a change in the testing team it will help the new team members to quickly understand the process and help in a quick transition. The overall summary report of the testing process helps the entire project team to understand the initial flaws in design and development and ensure that the same errors are not repeated again. There are four types of testing documents. The transmittal report which specifies the testing events being transmitted from the development team to the testing team, the test log which is a very important document and used to document the events that happened during execution, test incident report which has a list of testing events that requires further investigation and the test summary report which summarizes the overall testing activities.
Many software testing companies follow the IEEE standard of software testing when executing their testing projects. Software application development companies may have their own testing templates which they use for their testing requirements. Outsourcing the testing requirements to a third party vendor helps in improving the quality of the software to the great extent. Also an unbiased view helps to find out the many different loopholes that are existent in the software system.
By: Debajyoti Basu
The Benefits Of Modern Business Software
Today’s businesses are unrecognisable from those of fifty, even twenty years ago. This is mainly due to an increase in business software that has led to further integration and efficiency. Such benefits could only be possible in today’s world, such systems without the desktop power of modern computers would simply be impossible.
The days of the office runner passing information from desk to desk are certainly over; the speed that business software can perform the same tasks has completely usurped the runner’s position. As with much in the modern world, rapidity and efficiency are paramount.
The era of the paperless office is upon us, the days of stacks and stacks of filing are long gone as the increased use of business software office leads to faster transfers of information between departments and full integration of internal systems and communications.
The choice for any company is which software suite to choose, as the choice will determine successful trading. A recent addition to the market is the Sage 200 suite; this gives management full control on nearly every aspect of their business, almost down to how members of staff have their tea.
It is a strong assertion that good communication results in good business. The importance for front office staff to instantly contact back office staff and have records from all departments at their fingertips cannot be stressed enough.
When experiencing rapid growth in clientele and subsequently customer information, a software system such as those produced by Sage can prevent the common mistakes from being made, business software can change this. With staff able to access all aspects of the business, there are no boundaries to the service staff can provide to clients.
Imagine a business where sales departments have information on all aspects of customer and product details. Those in customer relations roles could have full information on a client at the touch of a button, whilst being able to track dispatches and give delivery dates readily, limiting the stress to customers. Modern business software can bring this and more, enabling businesses to run smoother and give better service to their customers.
This can be seen as the end of the departmental business, at least in the technological sense if not the physical. With fully integrated software, managers will be able to study all the departments almost simultaneously, checking payroll and ledgers one minute and the next looking at employee expenses and bills for materials. Perfect the manager who likes to keep track of his finances.
In terms of customer care, office integration software could not be more important as it is clear that customers wish to be treated individually. To have full information on a customer’s likes and dislikes and also their history with a company will be very useful in building excellent client relations. In today’s business environment it is imperative that such relationships are maintained, leaving the customer feeling appreciated and valued.
The potential for modern business software to take a business into the future cannot be underestimated, today’s customers require, and expect service of the highest quality. If your business does not supply such a service, it is about time it did. Full integration of departments is fundamental to ensuring exceptional service is provided to customers. After all they are the most important asset any business can possess.
By: Shaun Parker
Affordable Business Software
One of the more expensive items, which normally end up being the backbone of a business, is the purchase of and your monthly payments for your software system.
Even if you do not buy the system but pay a monthly rental fee for the system, these fees can be rather expensive and unnecessary, especially the support backup. There are a lot of packages out there for the “Hire” industry and for the normal “Retail” business. What a lot of business owners do not know is that these packages are just a re-write of any basic accounting package that includes a few add-ons. More importantly if one has to look at their design through the eyes of an IT professional they will more than likely find the design and code is unacceptable as most of these “packages” are designed and programmed by so-called programmers that have had no formal programming education.
Background
I have been in the IT industry for the last 20 years and have been around the block. I did not want to accept the package we were advised to use when we started our tool hire business but we had no choice and had to use it to get up and running. To have the use of this package we had to pay a monthly fee for a minimum of two licenses even though we were only using one. For every telephone call for support you would be charged a minimum of a one hour call out. If the support had to come to your premises you would be charged extra for travelling. The more I considered at this and especially in these tough times, the more I started looking around for other options. We then got an email informing us that they were increasing their fees by a 10 percent annual increase even though we only had their system for 6 months. That hit the nail on the head. I started to write my own system.
Quickbooks
I then remembered that my sister in Vancouver once told me that all their clients and their company only use Quickbooks and they are the bookkeepers. So I started to look at Quickbooks and realised they have over 4 million Quickbooks users worldwide. Now that has to say something for Quickbooks in itself, whether that is 4 million users or 4 million businesses, who knows – it is still a lot. Then I realised I had been trying to “re-invent the wheel” which I had always advised against in my previous employment. I started to test Quickbooks. I found that it was very “user friendly” and easy to set up. As you install it, it basically prompts you through everything. Thereafter with a few template changes, how I added the hire equipment and set up a few accounts, Quickbooks now works for our hire business. There is not that much you actually need to do and it is really quite simple.
Costs
Costs are minimal as you only pay once. No more monthly payments. Support?- there are tons of answers for almost any question you might have on the Intuit website. I will go through how I set up Quickbooks for our company in the following articles. I am not a Quickbooks re-seller – I just do not see why businesses should pay exorbitant fees for inferior software when there are solutions for your business out there already. The software you use does not have to be Quickbooks either. See more articles on this subject at our website http://www.ToolsforAfrica.co.za.
By: Gary Pitman